Durant Main Street Executive Director Stephanie Swicker attended Main Street Day last week at the Oklahoma State Capitol and she said this is a day held once a year where directors advocate for the national and state Main Street programs “We were there giving our support and also they acknowledged the Main Streets that have some outstanding re-investments in their districts,” Swicker said. “That was our purpose for being there to talk to those legislators to let them know how important this program is that it stays intact.”
She said that currently, there is a bill in the legislature that if passed, would allocate funds toward each Main Street district to help support the programs.
Swicker, in an interview last week, also spoke about the recent Durant Main Street Met Gala at the Bell Tower Event Center. She said she was very pleased with the outcome.
“It was supported in such a huge way and we just appreciate it so much,” Swicker said. “We thought that the runway (fashion) show was great. All of the businesses that participated in our district, they really showed up big for that. It was entertaining but also I think too it helped people see what was in our community they have not realized existed here before.”
She said among supporters of the gala were the City of Durant and State Rep. Cody Maynard.
“A lot of the stakeholders within the community were there and so we appreciate that support,” Swicker said, adding that annual district awards were presented during the event.
“So, it was an opportunity for us to shine a light onto the district, onto the businesses and onto those that really support a thriving Main Street district,” she said.
According to Swicker, there were 30 nominees for awards selected by the organizations committee and there were more than 1,700 votes cast for award winners.
“I think that shows that people really are paying attention to the heart of the community, to our historic district,” Swicker said.
The theme for next year’s gala is Pearls and Prohibition.
She said the Main Street program is picking back up from a decline during COVID. The organization lost its national accreditation for about a year and recently got it back which Swicker described as a huge accomplishment.
“That was a big check mark and I think too just working really hard to try get a good solid foundation set for the program, so that we can support our businesses in a better way,” Swicker said.
She said the next big event will be Oktoberfest on Sept. 26 at Lost Street Brewing Co. and on the following weekend, there will be an art and wine festival. The goal for Oktoberfest is for it to include more of the downtown district.
“We would love for the whole district to just be covered in Oktoberfest,” Swicker said. “We will actually start that committee meeting next month where we’ll start making plans and seeing what additional things we can add and adjust to. I know beer games were a huge hit. The weenie dog races were a huge hit. We’re wanting to incorporate a beard and mustache competition as well and hopefully, we will get to have more of the district involved this year than we did last year.”
Main Street is also working on programs that will include children from kindergarten through high school to participate in entrepreneurship programs, according to Swicker.
“We’re also working on developing a volunteer program that provides incentives to kids to volunteer from sixth grade up where they could possibly win scholarships to go towards their schooling,” she said. “Another thing that we’re working on is developing a Main Street swap program where our board can go visit a thriving Main Street and then could also host a Main Street and kind of show off our district.”
The Main Street office is currently located in a building on Lost Street and plans are to move into the Market Square Cafe building.
“We have some funds set aside already so that we can start the revitalization of that building,” Swicker said. “We will begin getting quotes to see how much work is needed so that we can start the work on that very soon. I think it’s cool to open it up to the public, too instead of it being just storagebased because it’s already labeled an historic building so it would be nice that they would have access to that.”
Farmer’s Market is currently being held at Market Square on Saturdays.
“We have incorporated a kids market on the first Saturday just to encourage the entrepreneurship,” Swicker said. “We’ve got kids all the way up to 15 that our making goods and selling them on first Saturday.”
